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tv   Happening Now  FOX News  October 4, 2012 8:00am-10:00am PDT

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boca raton, florida. it's important stuff. martha: great to have you "america's newsroom." "happening now" starts right now. we'll see you tomorrow. jon: it was fun and more fun to come. brand-new stories and breaking news. jenna: you have two men and millions of votes at stake. we break down the first presidential debate for you and get reaction to one big question, did this face off change the course of the race? we'll have that for you. also a deadly outbreak of meningitis sparking a nation-wide investigation. the cases share one common link, it's an important link to know and a suspected source. an fbi raid in texas turning up evidence sensitive technology was allegedly shipped to a foreign military power. we'll tell you what is behind this scheme. this is all on "happening now."
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two candidates facing off in the first presidential depwaeuft the yeadedate of the year and jon scott is back in the anchor seat. gregg: happy to be here. jenna: i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. president obama and mitt romney go hea head-to-head in denver making strong arguments on how they would if i can the question. governor romney says he would bring relief to the middle class. >> i don't have a $5 trillion tax cut. i don't have a tax cut that you're talking about. we should provide relief to the people in the mid class. high income people are doing just fine in this income, they'll do fine whether you're president or i am. the people having a hard time right now are middle income americans. under the president's policy middle income americans have been buried, they are being crushed. jon: mr. obama with this argument. >> the fact is that if you are loring the rates you describe, governor, then it is not possible to come up with enough
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deductions and loopholes that only affect high income individuals to avoid either raising the deficit or burden evening the middle class, it's math, it's arithmetic. jon: today it's back to the campaign trail. mr. obama in denver, and then to wisconsin. governor romney is in virginia where the most recent "real clear politics" average shows president obama leading with 47% of the vote, governor romney with 44. virginia has 13 electoral votes up for grabs. that's where john roberts is right now, live in fisher'sville, virginia. what is the event going on there today, john. >> country music star trace atkins will be joining governor romney and his running nature at 6:45 on stage. president obama won this state by six in 2008. governor romney trailing in the polls currently hoping to use his debate performance to narrow the gap. it was the first time the two
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candidates were on stage face-to-face, a chance for governor romney to one-on-one answer allegations that the obama campaign has been firing his way. one of them over this idea that governor romney is trying to implement a $5 trillion tax cut for the rich. he repeatedly answered that question for president until it finally came down to this. >> look i've got five boys. i'm used to people saying something that is not always true, but just keep on repeating it and ultimately hoping i'll believe it. but that is not the case, all right. i will not reduce the taxes paid by high income americans. >> that is probably as close as last night's debate came to a memorable line. rather than being a selection of zingers it was uncharacteristic lee marked by substance, jon. jon: isn't that amazing, substance in a debate. what about the president's performance, and specifically senior voters and his appeal to them? >> reporter: you know, i think in the aftermath of the debate a lot of democrats were puzzled and disappointed over the
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president's performance. some say he didn't bring his a game. others said it looked like he didn't really want to be there last night. some of his responses actually brought a rebuke such as this one where he was appealing to senior citizens over governor romney's plans to reform medicare, listen. >> when you move to a voucher system you are putting seniors at the mercy of those insurance companies, and over time if traditional medicare has decayed or fallen apart then they are stuck, and this is the reason why aarp has said that your plan would weaken medicare substantially. >> reporter: well that response brought a sharp rebuke from the aarp which right after the debate put out a statement that said, quote, aarp has never consented to the use of its name by any candidate or political campaign. it seemed, jon, last night president obama just couldn't get a break. jon: wow smacked down at every turn it seems.
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john roberts. >> reporter: smacked down by the aarp. jon: whacked. thanks, john. jenna: many analysts are saying it was a victory for governor romney. that's one of the things we'll be talking about, including with bill crystal writing this in the "weekly standard." quote, mitt romney stood and delivered the best debate performance by a republican presidential candidate in more than two decade. let's bring in a.b. stoddard the associated editor at " hill." we are talking about who won, who lost the debate. what about the voters? did we win? we've got to hire these guys. they are going to work for us. did we get the debate we deserved last night? >> i think so. i didn't hear a lot of attacking i thought it was deeply substantive, at times almost pouring. very much in the weeds on policy and that's what i think people are looking for. we have terrible problems that have to be confronted after this election. they've been put off now for a while because of the campaign, and i was very lease pleased with ou mea with how meaty the
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substance was. jenna: romney did well because the president didn't show up or bring his a game, those are some of the comments. did romney do well, because he did well or did romney do well because the president didn't go quite as expected? >> i think it's both. i think romney owned it because he was in control, energized. he was very well prepared. he gamed out every positive narrative of every thread of every topic and he was totally at ease and seemed to be enjoying himself. if the president had equally engaged and realized 20 minutes in, wow, mitt romney i underestimated him, he's having a great night here and put his foot on the gas he might have got a draw. he didn't do that. he looked like he didn't want to be there or want the job. that was something that happened to him a few times during a very long extended campaign with hillary clinton. that obama that we saw last
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night was often fighting the real competitor, barack obama who ultimately prevailed over her in the long 08 primary. it was to me both things. president obama could have realized how well romney was doing and try to engage but he really didn't. jenna: let's talk about where the president has shown up over the last several weeks and months because the debate is just one part of a big campaign strategy. here ace list of a couple of the interviews that the president has done. "entertainment tonight." people magazine, the view, david letterman, jimmy fallon, glam or, magazine. he hasn't had a news conference in about seven months. considering that, a.b., how do you think this might change the president's strategy over the next several weeks up until voting day? >> well i think the president is going to realize that there was a universal consensus that mitt romney won the debate. the it didn't matter which party people were from, who they were supporting, everyone agreed mitt romney won. the president will come to the next debate on october 16th i think in different form, no
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matter where he is in the polls. he looked last night like he was projecting his lead and i think he will perceive that now as a mistake. i think we will see a different debate in the town hall setting on the 16th. i think mitt romney will be energized by this however, he will be prepared for a more engaged president obama and i think we'll see a more lively debate no matter what in the next setting. if the polls move for mitt romney this is a significant event and a turning point in the campaign. if they don't, then mitt romney is really in trouble, because as you know the president is still ahead in the places that states that need to be run and this was the night to turn around for mitt romney. he will be hoping that that's what happened in the days to come. jenna: we don't have those numbers now but we will have them in the next few days to see what the impact was. a.b. nice to have you. gregg: syria admits it shelled a tush kish village and apologized
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for the five deaths. they are stopping short of calling the military action a declaration of war. leland vittert is following the story live from our mideast bureau in jerusalem. what is the latest? >> reporter: right now, jon, you think a very tense calm right now between the syrians and the turks that have stopped just short of war. the turkish government has authorized the use of force and authorized its military to cross the border into syria if necessary. they say that is a warning, not yet a declaration of war. this began midday when a syrian mortar shell landed inside a turkish border village. that killed five people and the response by turkey was almost immediately with responding with retal story shelling, not only shelling but also diplomatically they invoked the defense clause of the nato treaty and called for an emergency meeting in brussels.
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the other thing turkey has been doing over the past month or so is massing forces along their border, and those forces both the tanks and their artillery was used in artillery barrages that lasted about 18 hours against targets there inside syria. as for the syrians, they say this was an accident, they promise it will not happen again, and it appears as though the syrians have enough problems on their hands, they do not want to start a war with turkey going forward, though, you do have a dangerous dynamic set up here. all of a sudden now curbing key is on a war footing. it is ready for respond. if the syrian rebels under a swag operation launched a shell into turkey to try to draw a response that is something that could turn he's artillery barrages in an all-out war that could happen in a matter of a couple of hours in the middle east. right now the next 48 hours are going to be the most critical. we think the syrians have decided to take their licks, they have not yet responded to the t, rsk initial retalitory
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strike. they appear to be now saying, okay we'll take our licks, we've said our apologies and let's move on from this without starting a regional war from what is already a very blood decivil war. jon: we will have much more on turkey's military action in syria and how it could impact the u.s. given that turkey is our nato allive. we'll talk live with a retired four-star general moments from now. jenna: a serious story we'll continue to watch. through developments on a deadly outbreak of meningitis that spread to several states sparking a nation-wide investigation. the suspected source is now pinpointed not to one person but to one pharmacy. rick folbaum is at the breaking news decks. >> an important story. there is a common link as you mentioned, a pharmacy in massachusetts. it's called the new england compounding center. this is a place where a medication was made that doctors
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prescribe to treat back pain. the drug was shipped to other pharmacies where so far 26 people have come down with a rare form of meningitis something called fungal meningitis. four people have died so far. the states affected, virginia, maryland, florida, north carolina. the most cases turning up in tennessee. fungal meningitis is not contagious, that's why they are not looking for a person. it can't be passed from person-to-person. investigators are looking for a common link. they think they have found it with the back pain medicine made in massachusetts, the medicine commonly used is injected into patients. the pharmacy issued a recall. it's shut down while the investigation is going on. meningitis is an inflammation of the lining of the brain and the spinal cord. symptoms include severe headache, nausea, dizziness and fever. they are certain more cases will be reported. as we learn more we'll pass it along. jenna: that's key, not passed
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person-to-person this time, just the source. we'll continue to watch this. rick, thank you. jon: a convicted murderer and a follower of charles manson now looking for parole. who he is and why he thinks he deserves to walk out of prison a free man. plus, more trouble for american airlines, a new scare in the air as that airline tries to deal with a heated labor dispute with its pilots. ♪
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jenna: right now now information in a few crime stories we are keeping an eye on here. ann presley's mother is suing for invasion of privacy after the workers looked at her daughter's medical fires. presley was a popular little rock reporter who was raped and fatally beaten during a home invasion in 2008. a former member of the charles manson family is asking for parole for the 27th time. bruce davis was convicted of two murders, not tied to the infamous sharon tate murders in 1969. a parole board determined two years ago that davis was ready for release. the then governor schwarzenegger blocked the move. we'll see this time. thieves got away with $127,000 worth of jewelry from actress julianne moore's home.
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it happened as renovations were being done at herrman her manhattan brownstone. a very expensive diamond tennis bracelet was taken. there have been no arrests. jon: they say turkey apologized for killing five syrian civilians. the u.s. is pledging support to our nato ally even as they authorize strikes against syria. joining us now is former vice chief of staff of the army and a fox news military analyst and four-star general, jack keane. when we from the civilian world hear about this cross border shelling, what should we make of it and look for next in terms of syria's response tore turkey's response? >> syria is going to back away from this very quickly. this is not a strategic decision
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made by steer yeah senior leadership to widen the war by attacking rebel bases that are inside turkey. this is most likely a bone-headed mistake by a local commander who was frustrated by the rebels crossing the border and seeking safety on the turkish side of the border. i'm certain there will not be a repeat of this incident. the senior leadership in syria wants no part of any escalation of an event like this with a clash with turkey. turkey has a very powerful military and they certainly don't want to widen the problem they have inside their country to a conflict with turkey. jon: bashar al-assad's forces have enough of a problem just containing, just battling their own population, the rebel fighters within syria. if they have to take on a force from outside, namely turkey, are they going to be able to handle that? >> no, they could not. quite frankly, i don't think they can handle the rebels if we gave them the weapons that they desire and some of the
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information that they desperately need, not even to speak of a no-fly zone, if we just armed them properly i think the syrian military would have significant problems with the rebels as we've already seen. jon: but then you wind up with the question of who fills the vacuum. if bashar al-assad were to fall who fills the vacuum, and can we be certain that the rebels are going to wind up being our friends? >> well, we cannot. i don't think anybody would be able to predict that, and certainly what we've seen in egypt and also in libya tells you just how challenging this is. we do know what we have there now. we have a brutal dictatorship where people are socially, politically and economically repressed. and we have people striving tow change that regime and want a better way of life. there will be political moves when and if bashar al-assad falls in terms of who is going to run that country. i don't believe that should deter us from supporting it because we don't know with
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certainly what the outcome is. the consequences of failure should not pair hraoeuz u parahraoeuz us from not providing support to the rebels. we should be giving them much more support than we have. jon: if the white house or the pentagon were to call you after this interview and say, general keen, what should we do. your advice would be? >> i've spoken to representatives of the free syrian military twice in washington d.c. and on both occasions they said to me, general, look at, what we need is antitank weapons and antiaircraft weapons and better communications equipment than what we have. we don't need your troops, we don't need your airplanes although i'm certain they would we come them if we volunteered them. that's what they want. we have to the given them those kind of instruments in sufficient quantity. they have got some of it from saudi arabia and qatar, but not what they need. jon: especially when the iranian support bashar al-assad's
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forces. it seems to do battle by proximate see with iran in that way we'd want to be helpful. >> when you look at syria you don't look at it in isolation. you look at iran and the arc of coalition they are trying to form, from lebanon in the west, to syria, to iraq to iran itself, so bashar al-assad going is certainly in u.s. interests, because it is iran's number one ally. and iran is all in. they have 2,000 forces in there, this is the iranian republican guards who are assisting the syrian military in forming an elite force by themselves snooze you've given us a lot of new information, general, thank you very much. general jack keane. jenna: a new scare aboard an american airlines flight. passengers told to brace for a crash landing. the details of a severe malfunction thousands and thousands of feet in the air. he's a known terrorist who killed an american soldier in afghanistan. he was once in gitmo and now he is back in his own country.
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there are fresh concerns he will soon be free. we'll explain just ahead. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare?
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american airlines. passengers on a flight from dallas told to brace for a crash landing. it happened on board flight 1862 out of dallas headed to st. louis. the plane turned around in texas because of landing gear problems. there have been a number of mechanical problems on american jets recently. the company is involved in a labor dispute with its pilots. jenna: scary moments there, right. jon: not fun. jenna: a new showdown brewing as our countries speeds to the fiscal cliff, a double whammy if you will, severe government spending cuts and tax increases. the pentagon itself risks losing
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half a billion dollars in funding through sequestration. thousands of jobs could be on the chopping blocker lee next year. the question is when should the employees be notified as required by law that they could be out of work. mike emanuel is live in washington. this really affects all of us. if all of those employees are unemployed that really can move our unemployment rate and the job situation in this country, mike. what exactly is the law and what is being done right now? >> reporter: jenna the law is call the warn act which is supposed to provide 60 days notice ahead of mass layoffs, if those pentagon cuts could take effect. the obama administration says don't send out the notices right before election day, and if you, government contractor gets sued we'll pay your legal bills. i asked an expert if that is legal. >> the administration has said that you don't have to send out these notices, because we haven't given you the specific information as to what plans, what projects will be cut. the o & b was supposed to
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produce that information. have you a rather bizarre game of chicken, on this occasion, however it will be thousands of workers that go over the cliff. but ultimately it comes down to the administration saying we think we going to win. >> reporter: if congress and the white house cannot workout a deal to offset those cuts after election day hundreds of thousands of workers will be the losers, jon. jenna: we have thisee hrebs coming up as you mentioned. some republicans are outraged by the move about how this is all playing out. what are they saying. >> senator john mccain says he'll do everything in his power to make sure the administration cannot pay legal bills for defense contractors if they are sued. lindsey graham says we are no longer a rule of law nation. an said senator obama wanted to extend the warn out to 90 days up from 60 to make sure the workers were treated fairly. nonow he is trying to suppress
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the notices that would hit mailboxes before the election. graham called this a mini coup. jon: we know it's fall. maybe mother nature didn't get the memo. a nasty storm is on the move. janice dean on who needs tow look out. plus, picking the presidential debates' winner and looser. plenty of folks have strong opinions. how will last night's showdown in denver affect the race for the white house? a fair & balanced debate up next. overmany discounts to thine customers! [old english accent] safe driver, multi-car, paid in full -- a most fulsome bounty indeed, lord jamie. thou cometh and we thy saveth! what are you doing? we doth offer so many discounts, we have some to spare. oh, you have any of those homeowners discounts? here we go. thank you. he took my shield, my lady. these are troubling times in the kingdom.
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more discounts than we knoweth what to do with. now that's progressive.
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jon: a fox news exdream weather alert now. a winter storm set to hit the upper midwest today. some states will actually see snow while temperatures in the northeast could plummet. meteorologist janice dean is in the fox weather center. jd, something like this happened last year. didn't it, around new york? >> right. around halloween.
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you're a colorado boy, right, jon scott? jon: yes. >> that is what it was yesterday in the afternoon. 83 in denver. jon: good for the debate, yeah. >> guess what it is now? 37. jon: holy cow. >> you think has anything to do with the hot air leaving denver? jon: the hot air has flown out of town. >> we had to have fun with that. but man, a 46, 47 degree drop? that is a cold front, right. and that is what is giving us potential for snow across the upper midwest. 47 in minneapolis. 59 in kansas city. very warm across the eastern seaboard. that is going to change this weekend, my friends. we have a cold front stationary across the eastern seaboard. ahead of it along the front pretty nasty weather. showers and thunderstorms. it is so humid outside. bad hair day across the northeast. there is the winter storm bringing in some cases up to a foot of know across the extreme upper midwest as well as parts of the
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rockies. first measurable snow of the season and first real cold-snap. the cold air is on the move. there is the 24 temperature change. 12 degree change in minneapolis. 21 degree change in sue falls. denver really takes the cake. where will the storm head? it will head up into canada. this next system will move across the ohio valley and the northeast could bring a few snow makes to parts of the interior northeast this weekend. only the first week of october, we're already talking about snow, jon. i hope you have your shovel-ready. i hope jenna has her fancy coat. jon: the pink parka, isn't that what it is? jenna: jon, pink for me? >> fancy bubble coat? jon: i know it is officially winter when jenna breaks out the puffy parka. jenna: i'm not ready for fall fashion. i have to find out where it is in storage. i'm not prepared for that. >> we have not seen that.
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the puffy coat. jon: puffy coat. there we go. janice dean. thank you. >> you bet. jenna: pretty interesting to see the weather change in denver. might be something to janice dean's theory. this is also a important story we continue to watch today. there is new fallout from the deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in libya as the state department investigates security lapses. lawmakers want information on threats to the u.s. consulate in the months ahead of the terror attack and repeated requests for extra security. chief washington correspondent james rosen is live. d.c. bureau is following the story. james we heard about multiple investigations. a lot of layers to this story. the one investigation constantly pointed to, the one done by the fbi we hear is making marginal progress. why is that? >> reporter: nearly a month after the attacks, jenna, the forensic value of the benghazi consulate and secret annex a half mile away where the two ex-navy seals were killed without question is significantly
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compromised. fbi agent and tech shuns on the ground in libya interviewed all the key u.s. personnel and reviewed all the available intelligence but they have been largely been confined to tripoli, more than 600 miles away the libyan authorities boasted of arrests in this case of the u.s. officials confirmed to fox news that american agents are independent independently tracking some of the suspected killers. but it has been news organizations publicly disclosed some of the most impressive evidentiary discoveries in this case. you recall a cnn reporter obtained from the benghazi compound three days after the killings there the personal diary of slain ambassador chris stevens. now "the washington post" up loaded to its website images of some sensitive documents one of its reporters retrieved from the same ground two weeks later. these include annotated three-page minute by minute schedule for the ambassador covering three-day period of september 10th, 11th, 12th, the is 12th being a day the
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ambassador never lived to see, jenna. jenna: tell us about the panel the state department themselves created? >> reporter: as our catherine herridge reports last hour, that secretary clinton's accountability review board, arb is expected to report findings within 60 days of the first session. there is caveat. the chair of the board, former u.s. ambassador to the united nations thomas pickering can request and resee more time. aiding pickering will be former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen. a spokeswoman for secretary clinton was asked if the department of state will cooperate equally with the various probes underway. >> i think we believe that we're going to have to work these processes in parallel. we have responsibilities to the congress. there is the fbi investigation and there is the arb we'll have to work these in parallel. >> reporter: reminder. libya remains a restive place. crossing the wires now are reports of protesters storming the headquarters of
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the libyan parliament over the new prime minister's proposed cabinet. you can understand the kind of danger our fbi agent might be facing overseas. jenna. jenna: more on this as we get it. james, thank you. >> thank you. jon: let's go inside america's election headquarters and offer you new reaction to the first presidential debate as both campaigns look ahead to two more showdowns between president obama and governor romney, and the one and only vice-presidential debate. well, today it is all about the how the candidates performances on that stage in denver could shake up this race going forward. let's talk about it with angela mcglowan, fox news political analyst and cory elands, former communications advisor to president obama and senior vice president for fox global. angela, you say mitt romney won this thing hands down. what does it do for his campaign? >> what does it do for his campaign? there will be more fund-raising and american people got to see mitt romney at his best with his strengths. he was aggressive, precise
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and focus and spoke with clarity. whereas obama at some times look a bit bewildered. i wanted to see a really good debate. obama was very passive. how do we move forward? this raises the bar for romney and for obama. so i think our next debate is going to be a little more livelier, jon. jon: cory, even big obama supporters like bill maher, bill maher tweeted out during the debate that it looks like president obama doesn't even realize he is showing up here for a job interview. >> well, jon, there is no question about it that mitt romney did a good job of exceeding dramatically low expectations. definitely won the expectations game, right. jon: if he won the debate? that is more than exceeding low expectations, isn't it? >> i think so. >> but here's the point, the point is at end of the day debates about specifics. this was very substantive debate last night. even the president at the end thought it was a very
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good conversation but i think his strongest point throughout the night when he pointed out, you know, the governor romney's ideas apparently are too good to communicate to the american people. he wants to keep them a secret. doesn't want to tell us how he will pay for this tax cut. he doesn't want to tell us how he will pay for this defense spending. doesn't want to tell us how he will reduce the deficit. >> he did. >> he wouldn't provide any specifics that is still the problem. people are still waiting. he may have won on performance but he definitely lost on substance. >> i don't think we were watching the same debate. mitt romney said he would the no raise taxes to pay for his tax cuts. he said he was going to cut spending. even said that there would be a grade. he will not borrow money to pay for a program. he said he would cut pbs and big bird. he was very specific about what he would do. in certain places though romney questioned obama and obama just looked at him, when obama said basically you get a tax cut or a tax deduction for moving jobs overseas. mitt romney said i've been in business last 25 years, i
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don't know what you're talking about. basically obama was vague last night. but romney came with specifics. jon: cory, you described the debate as being sort of very specific and bordering on wonky but isn't that what people are looking for right now? aren't they looking for specifics and numbers and ideas here? >> i think you're absolutely right about that. always interesting to me tv commentators and others complain how debates and political discourse is boring and turning american people off whether this is exactly the time they should pay close attention. when they do this is when they see the contrast between the two candidates standing on same stage. if you look reports come out this morning, fact checkers, "l.a. times", "wall street journal", "washington post" they're blowing holes in the presentation that governor romney presented last night. saying again, how are you going to pay for deficit reduction? how are you going to pay for the tax cut? how will you create jobs and
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all of this environment. and still all the things that you want to do. just doesn't add up. that is very point that the president made last night. it doesn't add up. >> what mitt romney said last night when he was governor he worked with a democrat house and senate he will work across party lines to make things happen. just not the president that makes things happen. you have to work together. that is how our forefathers meant it. president obama when he had his democrat house and senate he got everything he wanted and still his policies failed. but mitt romney has been proven to make things happen and make things greater. jon: angela -- >> i'm glad you said that please tell your folk on capitol hill. that is exactly what we need in washington right now. which need both parties working together to move us forward. >> maybe need to help obama with communications so he can do better in the next debate. jon: there is a compliment for you. cory, an gell last, thank you both. >> thank you. jenna: some new details about an al qaeda terrorist recently transferred from
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guantanamo bay to a civilian prison in canada. we brought you the story yesterday. he killed a u.s. soldier. he is considered dangerous but he could potentially be a free man soon. why did this happen? what sort of danger does he still pose? we'll dig a little deeper into that. plus federal agents raid a business in texas coming away with boxes of evidence not tied to drug cartels or terrorism. wait until you hear who was the target, next. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.
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jon: new next hour. the latest in the hunt for the killer or killers of a u.s. border patrol agent in arizona. a new concern for investigators seeking justice for nicholas ivy. the changes that could come for anyone who uses a cell phone. a closer look at one lawmaker's proposal on wireless surveillance. plus, big bird fighting back after governor romney mentions him in the debate. jenna: some new information on a story we're following this week on "happening now" about this man, omar khadr. he is an al qaeda terrorist originally from canada. his father provided money to the tear record network, al qaeda, his family is considered more or less the bin ladens of canada. khadr spent a decade at gitmo. he is back in canada in civilian prison there after u.s. prosecutors negotiated a deal to00 him to his country. we yesterday spoke to
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sergeant layen morris who was blinded during the firefight with khadr and that killed one of his fellow solders. >> omar khadr is not done. he never expressed any regret and acknowledged leader, worst of the worst, 160 worst guys we've got in guantanamo they think omar khadr is a rock star, the acknowledged leader. this is not somebody we should be releasing to the public. just the security aspect of having a known and declared and dedicated unrepentant terrorist running around in western society, omar is not done and we will all regret the day that omar khadr is loosed. jenna: joining us right now is charles simpson. a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainees. he also senior legal fellow at the heritage foundation. he also serves a a judge advocate general, better known as a jag in the navy.
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because khadr is now in the canadian prison system, it's, possible that he is out on parole in a year. why would we have made this type of plea agreement if he is, as sergeant morris just described him to be? >> well you've got to feel for sergeant morris. i think a lot of people sort of empathize with his thoughts here. but people who had the privilege like me to serve in the military and wear our country's uniform and be a defense attorney and prosecutor i've been like a lot of other people, no plea deals are part of the criminal justice system, in the military and then outside. and here, the government thought, along with the defense, that they were getting something for the plea. and what the government of course like they do in all pleas certainty. a plea of guilty is the highest form of proof known to the law. by his plea of guilty alone the court can and did find him guilty.
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jenna: is that the highest priority to get that plea or make sure he never hurts any americans ever again? >> of course the goal of the government is justice. that is the goal of the prosecutor and in the military and outside the military and goal of the defense to insure the accused gets a fair and zealous defense. and here, the military justice system has a unique little twist here, jenna. that is this. whereas in the civilian world you plead guilty to a crime and then the judge will issue a sentence, in the military justice system the defense and prosecution go to the command who owns the accused. here it is called the convening authority. and then negotiate a cap on confinement. so khadr pleaded guilty to killing specialist chris speer and injuring this gentleman who was with you yesterday. the jury sentenced him to a long period of time, not knowing what the cap was exactly. jenna: right. >> not knowing there was a cap on confinement the jury does what they thought was right, issues a 40-year sentence. then the judge opens up
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paperwork after they do their sentence and says, well the capital confinement is this. jenna: just to be clear, have you ever been in combat before? >> negative. jenna: okay. so i'm just wondering as we're playing this out and understanding the process and we heard from a man who has been in combat and come face-to-face with this guy and has strong feelings about him, we're getting process about the legal side, whether or not we're in a bit of a conflict between the people that have really confronted our enemies face-to-face and the governments and bureaucrats that may have not and whether or not that is impeding us from making sure that we're safe? >> well, i mean it's a great question. keep in mind, jenna, that the officers on the jury, often times have been in combat, and they, in that particular case gave 40 years. jenna: right. >> but the other people involved in the criminal justice system have been in combat too. jenna: the prosecutors at pentagon, right? they were the ones that would have netted a plea deal? >> correct. that's correct. in other commissions cases, the jury has issued very
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short sentences, much to the dismay of the government. and so, i think we need to place a lot of faith in our military criminal justice system and military commissions. the defense and prosecution are doing their very best under tough circumstances. quite frankly, in plea deals, jenna. often times, one side or the other is just not happy at the end. that means the victims rights should be looked after and listened to in the plea process but sometimes they're not happy and sometimes the defendant's family is not happy when they get a sentence they didn't expect. that's way it is. jenna: that is story we'll continue to watch. you give us invaluable perspective how it actually comes about the a lot of our viewers had questions about that. we'll continue to explore the story. we hope to have you back to talk more about it. thank you. >> nice being with you. jon: check this out. federal agents raiding a business in southwest houston, emerging with bocks and boxes of evidence. the suspects al qaeda, drug cartels? nope. we're talking the russians.
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>> cold war is back. cold war is definitely back.
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jenna: right now an fbi raid in texas some hay as the makings of a russian spy film. rick has the latest for us now. >> reporter: here's the story, jenna. a russian comes to america. becomes a citizen. starts up a company with the sole purpose of getting access to u.s. military technology that he then ships back to his homeland. prosecutors say that is exactly what alexander vishenko was up to. he and six others are charged money laundering forgery and charged with being agents of the russian government. this is raid carried out at his business. that business, arc electronics was used to
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acquire cutting-edge micro electronic equipment that was then sold to russia. weapons experts say this is technology used in radar, surveillance systems, guidance systems, detonation triggers. he was born in the former soviet croon. he and seven others are now in custody. he faces at least 12 years in prison if convicted on all charges. he and his codefendants have a court appearance in houston by the way, later on today. jenna: you're right. like make of a spy film. who knows. maybe it will become one. rick, thank you. jon: it is an important swing state. this and every election year and it has seen a big drop in unemployment. we're talking about ohio. the jobless rate in the buckeye state going from 10.6% during the recession, to 7.2% in august. the state's second largest city, cleveland is open for business in a big way. that's where we find liz claman of the fox business network. she is live at the rock and roll hall of fame. liz? >> how could you tell, jon?
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we're here at the rock and roll hall of fame more than a decade ago came here. look at this place. $100 million come through the doors every singler year at the rock hall of fame. i don't know how many years you know this. the term rock and roll was coined in the '50s by chief and dj alan freed. this sit is much more than that. they're big in industrialized business, auto industry and auto parts. if you talk about why the unemployment rate came down so much, if you talk to people from both sides of the aisle, that the auto industry was saved and that certainly helped the situation but what we have here today is cleveland open for business. fox business is picking cities that are great american opportunities of innovation and all day long today and tomorrow we're focusing on famed cleveland businesses like the cleveland clinic, not to mention lubrizol which is a chemical company that warren buffett just bought. we have the ceo james hambrick in a rare interview tomorrow the but today, 2:00
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p.m. eastern governor john kasich will join us. we have the mayor, who is a democrat. john kasich is a republican. the mayor is a democrat. he is coming on as well. the two have worked together, jon. that is how we brought the unemployment rate down. back to you. jon: 3% drop in unemployment over that time. i mean it shows it can be done, right? >> better than the national average. and ohio was the 48th in job creation for all states in america. now, they're number four. not bad. jon: liz claman, we'll look forward to your reporting. thank you. jenna: way too early to say who will win in november but plenty of people think they know who won last night. the best political team coverage anywhere how what happened on stage in denver may shape the race
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most surprising the whole evening felt as this owe bottom obama was back in 2008 only to demonstrate a sense of cool, calm collected necessary to persuade the voters that they could do what they desperate rewanted to do, change course. >> you have a word of caution,
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tell bus this. >> a terrific performance by romney. the media has decided obama had a bad night. that is not the story in my opinion. obama had a bad night because mitt romney gave them a bad night by attacking his economic record and explaining what four more years of president obama would be like and laying out his own proposal and defending them well. romney did very well. the obama team is not going to roll over and say, i guess we lost, we'll give up. they will counter attack in a lot of ways. i think it's very important that romney stay on the offensive until the next two weeks until the next debate he has with president obama. they really need to -- enough patting themselves on the back. it's new now. i said to someone this morning in the romney campaign, they called up and said thanks for your praise. i said you guys did great, you get to enjoy this morning. go back on the offensive, continue to make your case, the key is to stay on the offensive, not let what happened in denver stay in denver but use it as an inflection point for the rest of the campaign. jenna: you're a tough critic. you say all right.
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here is what you need -- >> to their credit they are giving a foreign policy speech monday at the virginia military institute. i has to layout his policy-heavy forward looking agenda. maybe he should give another speech on taxes, debt, on obamacare and keep up on the offensive on policy, i think that is the key. jenna: substance is something we've talked about talked a lot about. you mentioned the media being critical of the romney campaign. you at times have been critical of the romney campaign, maybe a little wary as well. do you think you've under estimated this candidate ear group. >> i think i may have under estimated the candidate. the first people in the campaign would be to say this was mitt romney on the stage there. was no campaign out there. rob portman did a very good job of playing barack obama in the debates and being a tough opponent for mitt romney. one of the mistakes owe obama made was having john kerry, the senator of massachusetts play mitt romney.
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he wants to be secretary of state in a second obama administration if he wants to. i bet he was not tough on obama. when romney began seriously responding to obama's attacks and romney began going on the offensive on obama's record i think the president was stunned and said, hey this isn't what john kerry did in the practice debates. what is going on here. i worked for vice president quail he did a good job on his debate in 92, he we briefed it, he practiced. you going on that stage, it's you and he alone, i give mitt romney a lot of credit for last night. jenna: we'll continue to watch your writing inks in "the weekly standard" and all your appearances on fox. thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. jon: president obama is back on the campaign trail today after less than stellar reviews on his performance in last night's debate. a live look now where the president is speaking any minute at an event in denver. chief white house correspondent ed henry is there and joins us live.
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the president came in as the favorite last night but he was really put on defense pretty early wasn't he? >> he was jon, and there is a bitter chill in denver for the president's post debate rally. temperatures in the 30s, people bundled up behind me. they brought in will i am the deejay to fire up and warm up the crowd. one of the songs he played a couple of times was journey's "don't stop believing" might be appropriate as the obama campaign tries to get back off the canvas this morning. the bottom line is the president started off pretty well by trying to frame it exactly the way he and bill clinton have been framing this race by saying it's not about the last four years, it's a choice about the next four years. take a listen to the early part of the debate and how the president framed it. >> the question here tonight is not where we've been, but where we're going. governor romney has a perspective that says if we cut
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taxes, skewed toward the wealthy and rollback regulations that we'll be better off. i've got a different view. i think we've got to invest in education and training. i think it's important for us to develop new sources of energy here in america. that we change our tax code to make sure that we are helping small businesses and companies that are investing here in the united states. >> reporter: what we saw after the president framed that way, though, framed it that way is that mitt romney punched back and said, wait a second you've been president for four years, why haven't you done some of that. it didn't appear that the president had been challenged in that kind of a direct way in a longtime and didn't really counter punch on those points. he's going to have to recover quickly now not just because we have two more presidential debates and a vice presidental one coming next week, but tomorrow there is a jobs report for the month of september. that is something the obama camp will have to be ready for as well. jon: some are saying is part of the reason romney scored is because he was more personal,
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had a more personal approach. do you think that is the case in. >> there were some elements of that. we've heard so much out off the campaign trail about how the president was going to be hitting mitt romney over bain capital, over the 47% video, he didn't really bring that up, didn't bring up the tax returns, all kinds of things that have been fodder for the obama campaign ads but were not in the debate. the president connects better with average people, we hear that on the trail. while mitt romney does not. we saw throughout this campaign mitt romney taking about personal stories to make his case. take a listen to this part. >> he was in dayton, ohio and a woman grabbed my arm and she said i've been out of work since may, can you help me. ann yesterday was at a alley in denver and a woman came up to her with a baby in her arms and said, ann, my husband has had four jobs in three years, part time jobs, he's lost his most recent job, and we've now just lost our home. can you help us? and the answer is, yes, we can
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help, but it's going to take a different path, not the one we've been on, not the one the president describes as a top-down cut taxes for the rich, that is not what i'm going to do. >> reporter: now what is going to be interesting, what we'll be watching for at this rally in the next few minutes how does the president present himself now? is he the same guy last night that took a punch and didn't seem to be ready to come back or is he going to get off the canvas this morning and show this is a wake up call and he'll have a strong finish to the final weeks. jon: 33 days to go. it will be fascinating to watch. ed henry on the campaign trail with president obama in denver. thank you. jenna: the most heated moments coming in the back and forth over the tax plans. the claims and counter claims flying. what are the facts really. jim angle has a fact check for us live from washington. governor romney's tax plans would reduce rates by 20% across the board. he would keep it deficit neutral
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by trimming some of the $1.2 trillion year-end tax ducks. president obama argues there aren't enough deductions that only hit the rich so romney would have to hit the middle class. listen to this exchange. >> independent studies looking at this said the only way to meet governor romney's pledge are not reducing the deficit, or not adding to the deficit is by burden evening middle class families, the average middle class family with children would pay about $2,000 more. >> i will not under any circumstances raise taxes on middle income families. i will lower taxes on middle income families. you cite a study. there are six other studies that look to the study you describe and say it's completely wrong. >> reporter: the president is referring to a study by the tax anthropology sent wer which shows which tax deductions to put on the table on which to take off. the first study said it would result in the $2,000 tax increase the president mentioned. but the group later issued a
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clarification which put some deductions back on the table, back on the chopping block and it concluded that there is no reason why a reform proposal, quote, would have to raise taxes on middle class households. now the president, of course, only mentions the first study, not the later one. today the romney campaign pointed to a new study from the tax foundation which found his tax plan would increase economic growth by 7.5% over the next five to ten years. romney also argued one way to limit deductions is by imposing a cap on how much each taxpayer could claim, such as 25,000 or 50,000 a year. >> and i'm going to work together with congress to say okay, what are the various ways we could bring down deductions for instance? >> reporter: but governor romney pledged that under his plan the rich will pay no less in total taxes than they do now. jenna. jenna: you know, i read one analyst who said this morning that the debate last night was
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an economist's dream. what about the rest of us? we'll see -- thank goodness for your fact chec fact checking, jim. jon: new information on the murder of a u.s. patrol agent nicholas ivie. what we know about where he was ambushed and the hunt for his killer. jenna: a look at what to expect in round two. my doctor told me calcium is efficiently absorbed in small continuous amounts. citracal slow release continuously releases calcium plus d with efficient absorption in one daily dose. citracal slow release. or annuity over 10 or even 20 years?
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jenna: we continue to get new information in the death of a u.s. border patrol agent killed earlier this week. it happened in the same area where brian terry was murdered during the botched fast and furious gun-running operation. rick folbaum has the latest. >> dozens of federal agents are
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searching for suspects in this terrible case. nicholas ivie and his two fellow border patrol agents shot at six miles north of the u.s.-mexico line. ivie was killed the other two wounded. this is well-known for drug smuggling going on. they were responding to a tripped motion detector early tuesday morning when someone started shooting at them. they say the drug smugglers have the upper hand. >> they have an advantage in many cases, they are there, we are entering an area and they can easily ambush or flank our movements and they flee. >> agent ivie's body was transported to a local funeral home in arizona. an honor guard will stand watch over his body until burial. >> we just stood here in silence, you know, trying to show our respects and give him the respect that he d
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deserved. >> pay our respects. let the family know we care. >> i'm a little shaky, i'm emotional over this. it really did not need to happen. >> reporter: agent nicholas ivie was only 30 years old. he joined the force in 2008. he leaves behind a wife and two young daughters. as we learn more about this case we'll pass it along. back to you. jenna: rick, thank you. jon: a lot of folks who watched last night's debate are saying that it appeared to be a lopsided battle with governor romney scoring points on style and substance. meanwhile even democrats are calling president obama's performance flat as some supporters say he seemed subdued and should have been better prepared. here is what the president told a volunteer two days before the debate about his efforts to get ready for last night. >> it was very nice, you know. although basically they are keeping me indoors all the time. it's a drag. [laughter] >> they are making me do my
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homework. jon: as we saw last night governor romney clearly did his homework. he also used the debate as an opportunity to portray himself as a moderate. let's talk about it with david drucker and associate editor for "roll call." interesting, david the timing of of speaking, the speakers' timing of these two candidates. president obama had an edge of four minutes and it seemed like mitt romney goat a whole lot more said. >> it's not the time you're allotted but what you do with the time. mitt romney on balance made more use of his time whether we're talking style, whether we're talking substance. he had certain goals and things he needed to do going in and i think he accomplished those. i don't think he knocked the president out, but in terms of where this campaign was before the debate started, and where it is after i think you have to give the night to mr. romney. jon: one of the things that some suggested he had to do was to appear to be a moderate, not this scary guy that president
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obama spent millions of dollars of advertising money painting him to be. did he accomplish that and do you agree with the premise? >> i don't agree with the premise that he had to appear moderate, and that he was moderate. what i would tell you is that the president has very effectively defined mitt romney as an evil, scary businessman who wants to take all of your money and give it to rich people, you know, so you can sit out there on your own with no help. and that is a very effective case the president has made. one of the things that mitt romney had to do was explain his policies, explain why he supports the ideas that he believes in, and i think that he rose to the occasion, given the stage, and effectively did that. now what i would say about this moderate versus conservative is that i think mitt romney was communicating to swing voters and independents in a particular tone, but if you look at the policies that he was pushing last night, a 20% across the board tax cut, ending funding
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for programs like pbs, repealing the affordable care act, otherwise known as obamacare, all of these things are the same conservative ideas that excite conservatives that he's been running on for months, he also spent time talking about other things he's talked about for months, maybe just not as much, that includes his ideas for education, and what he's going to do with healthcare instead. so i would say this is about tone, not about a change in policy direction. jon: he also said he was, you know, as a republican governor of massachusetts he worked with a democratic legislature, and hey, that is what people want in this country right now. >> well, that's what they say they want. jon: yeah, david drucker from "roll call." david, good to have you one. jenna: a massachusetts congressman taking on law enforcement agencies, a look at his plan to protect your privacy, and keep a closer eye on wireless surveillance. [ mujahid ] there was a little bit of trepidation, not quite knowing what the next phase was going to be, you know, because you been,
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jenna: welcome back, everyone. we are your election headquarters. with more than a month to the big day we are taking a closer look at different states, including new mexico today. the state has only five electoral votes. every vote will count. the folks have picked the winner in seven of the last eight presidential elections. the key to new mexico is the latino population there, the largest in the country. that is the voting block that both candidates are wooing. the president is leading in polls there but the race could be more competitive than it looks with still more than a month some go. michael coleman is the washington bureau chief for the albuquerque journal. your sense of things was that the race was closer. do you feel that way now? >> i do feel that way the
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national polls have had the race as much as 10, 14 points. we had a poll that showed the race 5 points a couple of weeks ago. it will be interesting to see what happens in the next 30 days. you hit the nail on the head when you said romney's performance among hispanic voters in new mexico will be absolutely critical. jenna: anything in the debate you think will particularly resonate with the residents of new mexico and maybe even that voting block? >> one of the things that i thought was effective for mitt romney in that debate was that he performed well obviously, and secondly people in new mexico haven't seen much of mitt romney he's a little bit of an enigma to us. based on some of the characterizations so far he was seen as gaffe-prone and elitist. he didn't make any major gaffes and he was compassionate at times. i think president obama did well on issues of medicare and medicaid. we have a lot of low-income and retirees and low-income people in our state. i think he did a good job of
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staking those positions out and that he would protect that for people in new mexico and across the country. jenna: it's my understanding that the republican governor in new mexico, susana martinez who emerged as a star in the republican party has not been campaigning in her own state, but in nevada and florida. why is that? and what can you tell us about the campaigns and the headquarters set up inside the state by both parties? >> it's a bit of a mystery to me and other political observers in new mexico, why she is in florida. you know, part of it may just be that the romney campaign isn't overly concerned with new mexico that they've got these other sorter bigger fish to fly. it doesn't make sense to me that a governor who is a hispanic republican, isn't out beating the drum for romney in our state. we have another poll coming out in the middle of october. i suspect if it shows that romney is closing the gap a little bit you'll see more of susana martinez on the trail. jenna: one of the things you have reported is something about
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romney's campaign pulling out key people inside the state. maybe these guys are turning their back on the state and i'm curious to explore that a little bit more. >> that was a pretty interesting indication of where they think this race is coming. they pulled their hispanic outreach coordinator communications director out state of to send him to florida i believe. that just shows resources are tight and they really want to compete where they can win and possibly get the most electoral votes. to a lot of people in moo mexico who saw the news it seemed as a concession of new mexico by the romney campaign. jenna: great reporting by you. it's always grit to have you on the program. we look forward to checking in with you over the next couple of weeks. thank you. jon: who took round one last night? what do you think? it appears most voters think governor romney had president obama on the vote. 67% say they believe the governor one. what do the respective campaigns think? next we'll talk with former new
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hampshire governor john senunu, a senior adviser to the romney campaign, we'll find out if he's smiling this morning. ben labol. national press secretary for the obama campaign. they are coming up. [ male announcer ] how do you measure happiness? by the armful? by the barrelful? the carful? how about...by the bowlful? campbell's soups give you nutrition, energy, and can help you keep a healthy weight. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.
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[applause] >> but the, the fellow on stage last night, he loves teachers. can't get enough of them. the mitt romney we all know invested in companies that were called pioneers of outsourcing jobs to other countries but the guy on stage last night, he said, that he doesn't even know that there are such laws that encourage outsourcing. never heard of them. never heard of them. never heard of tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. he says if it's true, he must need a --. jenna: so it begins. the day after the debate, setting the tone, maybe for the next several weeks. if you would like to watch more of the president do so on foxnews.com. but we have a few interesting guests we have to get to, appropriately so. jon: we'll keep it fair and balanced, jenna. as governor romney gets high
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marks for his debate performance the obama campaign is responding with tough criticism. you heard from the president. here is a obama spokeswoman, jen. saki on "america's newsroom" yesterday. >> mitt romney may have scored style points with his theatrical debate performance but at end of the day he failed on the facts. the credibility didn't pass the bar american people are looking for. jon: here with reaction from the romney campaign, governor john sununu senior campaign visor, former white house chief of staff under president h.w. bush. governor, welcome. >> thank you. jon: you know we can't let any political event pass without taking a poll and one national outfit took a poll and asked viewers, do you think governor romney did better or worse than you expected. 82% said he did better. then expected. why do you think that is? >> well, because president obama in his dishonest way
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spent $250 million creating a caricature of somebody that doesn't exist. and second reason is, is that the mainstream media in playing clips of governor romney, over the past few months, have picked, in my opinion, the worst ones. what people saw last night was the real mitt romney, an individual that is truly compassionate, that really cares about people in america, understands they are hurting, under president obama, and demonstrated that he knows the issues from top to bottom. contrast that with a president that seemed, that not seemed, that was uninformed, detached, and demonstrated that he has been lazy and disengaged and has no idea, not only of his own policies, but has no idea what mitt romney's real policies are. the president last night showed us why the country is in trouble. and it is because we have a
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bumbler in the white house. jon: the folks at bloomberg.com, gave a generally good review to mr. , governor romney's performance but they said this. obama, president obama, can always console himself with the political science which shows that presidential debates rarely affect the outcome of an election. even if you think your guy won, is it going to help? >> sure. the fact that, i heard there was 50 million people watching last night. i would estimate that 20 million of them had never seen anything but an obama mitt romney. never had seen the governor before. they got a chance to see who the real governor is. that he has dealt with these kinds of issues as governor. that he has created bipartisan legislation out of policies and that he understands what is causing the shortage of jobs in america. i go back to what i said. the president demonstrated his incompetent sense and it is amazing to me, now the rehabilitation of the
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president's mess last night is beginning to start and you see the left-wing press now starting to make up excuses and say, well he just had a bad night. he didn't have a bad night. the obama you saw last night is the obama that has been in the white house for four years. that's why we have a problem. jon: you don't think there will be a better prepared president obama on stage next week? >> when you're not that bright you can't get better prepared. jon: okay. governor john sununu, former chief of staff under george h.w. bush. good to have you on. thank you. as for the president, the campaign says mr. obama did what he set out to do. >> was he satisfied with his performance? >> well like i, i've said before, presidents never is satisfied with his performance. he is always challenging himself and he will, this, he will review it. if he wants to make some changes in the next debate he will do so. what he was satisfied with that he went and told the
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american people the truth and i think is fairly well-convinced that governor romney didn't meet that standard. jon: so to be fair and balanced here is ben labolt, the obama for america national press secretary. let me read you a quote from maggie haberman at "politico". >> sure. jon: post-debate the president's campaign was spinning valiantly in the media center that no mistake among democratic operatives here and in other states that obama blew it. if that is the thinking of the mainstream media, how do you try to counter that notion? >> well, listen, governor romney delivered a great work of performance art last night. something that think clint eastwood would be proud of, but on substance, his positions were just as the in as the chair that mr. eastwood had on stage. the president's goal last night was to lay out his plan to restore economic
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security for middle class for undecided voter tuning into the campaign for the first time. i think he achieved that. governor romney locked himself into number of positions last night. recommitting to tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas and a medicare plan that would turn medicare into a voucher and cost seniors more than $6,000 out-of-pocket for their health insurance that won't pay long term dividends for mitt romney. jon: what specifics did we hear from the president? i heard in his summation i've been fighting hard for you in four years, if you give me four more years i will continue to fighting hard? >> he laid out his plans on tax reform and how he differed from governor romney. the fact he doesn't believe if you're a middle class family your taxes should go up. governor romney laid out a $5 trillion tax cut for millionaires and billionaires that can't be paid for unless you raise taxes on the middle class. mitt romney tried to run away from the plan last night. we'll make sure americans across the country
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understand exactly what it is. there was an exchange on education. the president's doubled funding for college scholarships. mitt romney cut back in the area both in massachusetts and would cut funding for education by 20% currently, yet mitt romney stood on the stage and praised teachers last night when he in the past said we don't need anymore teachers and opposed president's legislation to put them back in the classroom. we'll hold him accountable for specifics he didn't share last night. jon: he pointed out that massachusetts was number one state in educational performance. there is that. i want to do what we -- >> fees at massachusetts universities skyrocketed. jon: i want to do what we did for governor sununu as well. the same poll asked voters, viewers, about president obama's performance. did barack obama do a better or worse job than expected? 21% said he did a better job. 61% said he did worse than they expected. why do you think that is and will it change next time, ben?
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>> the history here favors the challenger. so in the past six presidential elections the challenger has been viewed as having the strong err performance in five out of the last six debates simply because standing on stage next to the president of the united states for the first time adds stature. but ultimately, governor romney is going to be held accountable for his statements in that debate. he said he would cover people with preexisting conditions but hess plan doesn't do that. if you've got a preexisting condition and you're between jobs governor romney's plan doesn't cover you. we'll share those facts in next couple weeks. jon: let's talk about specifics from the president's side because i didn't hear a lot of specifics from president obama either. >> well i think you heard about the president's deficit reduction plan last night. he is only one in the race who has a balanced and responsible deficit reduction plan of $4 trillion plan. based on model of all the bipartisan deficit commissions which say you need tough spending cuts and revenue in order to reduce
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the deficit and balanced way. mitt romney does the opposite. jon: all right. >> recommitted last night to not asking the wealthiest for a dime to reduce the deficit. jon: ben labolt, spokesman for obama for america, the president's campaign. thank you. >> thanks for having me, jon. jenna: all right. we'll continue having that conversation right. a lot to think about from both of those folks for the campaign. >> the back and forth continues. jenna: well a manhunt is on for a suspected terrorist. fbi is offering a $50,000 reward for help finding the man on your screen. he is accused of supporting al qaeda and considered extremely dangerous. ebelieved there was religiousification for suicide bombings. he attended tripping camp as and pakistan. he traveled to convicted coconspirator to yemen for the same purpose
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>> right now the fbi is searching for a suspected
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terrorist with apparent links to al qaeda. ahmad abousamara is u.s. citizen. according to fbi he made several trips overseas to train with terrorists. he most recently lived in mansfield, massachusetts. the fbi is offering a 50,000 dal reward for information leading to his capture. they posted a video on youtube with more information and includes a recording of his vice. >> abousamara is a five heaven -- five 11 with a thin build. listen to the cord record of his voice. >> they don't have a warrant. they might scare her. you know what i'm saying? jenna: peter brookes, former cia operative. fellow for national security affairs. he apparently left the united states in 2006. so why are we hearing from the fbi now about this guy? >> well, if you ask the fbi they say there is no specific event that has triggered this bounty that's been put out on him.
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that could be true and or they could be, you know, holding sensitive details to themselves and not wanting to say anything much more than that. he has been gone for six years but his coconspirator was sentenced earlier this year to 17 plus years in jail and perhaps they're finding out some new things about it. so, i mean, it is not quite clear why is is in syria which certainly isn't a safe place for anybody these days. the good news, if there is any, he is out of the united states. jenna: how effective are these type of bounties put on whatever or whoever is wanted on the wanted poster? is this an effective way actually to get suspected terrorists? >> it is one tool. of course there are drone strikes. there are other ways of, you know, getting at them as well through special operations. you know arrests by local host countries. i don't suspect we'll get much support out of syria these days for getting this individual. in fact he may have moved on from syria. that's where they thought he was. i think it is unique and
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innovative way of using social media to get the word out there. we're getting a lot of reports in from syria about what's going on there in fact it is one of the only really good ways we're having a sense of the terrible troubles that are going on in that civil war. so the internet is getting into syria. somebody out there may see it. may see $50,000 as a good way to get ahead and give us a tip that could lead to his arrest. +++çóçóxpkp
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jenna: how big a threat do you think he is about our national security? >> they are very concerned about him. possibility he is involved. they're not telling us everything. i support that. i don't want to know everything that will perhaps tip him off. he knows now that they're watching him. he has had contacts in yemen. remember al qaeda in the arabian peninsula? pakistan, that is still an epicenter of islamist extremist and terrorism and he wanted to go to iraq to kill american soldiers. he is obviously some sort of threat. of course the bureaucratic wheels can turn rather slowly. they may just be getting around to this. i think it has something to do with the sentencing of his coconspirator. perhaps he is telling us about things about a plot that renewed or invigorated
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interest in getting their hands on him. jenna: sound like someone we certainly should have a conversation with. we'll see if it works out and he gets in custody. peter, thank you very much. >> thank you, jenna, sound like in the story that the government had wiretaps on that guy and big changes could be coming to wireless surveillance practices by law enforcement agencies. a look at one congressman's plan to keep a closer watch on people watching you.
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without a judge's consent he felt something had to be done. police say they only seek records to help solve crimes. mark can i believes that it is time for a change. so he drafted a proposal called wireless surveillance act of 2012 which would limit how and why agencies can is for so-called tower dumps. that is a law enforcement tool to collect data from every cell phone in range of a cell tower at a particular time. >> law enforcement agencies should not have information about millions of innocent americans, with no standards, for how long they can keep it and for what use they can put it if they're unrelated to any crime that has been committed.>> tower dumps are ofn used when location and time are of the essence to help solve kidnappings. mark can i's bill would require a signed are sworn statement from law enporesment to justify the
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emergency access. the congressman has strong bipartisan support. many in law enforcement says the way they gather information is vital and saves lives and doesn't need change. >> it is not a matter of curiosity. not a matter that we want to be nosey. it is a matter of getting the right evidence to put the right person in jail. >> the cato institute, a public policy research organization, supports a change. >> when we surrender privacy, not just won at a time but to whole technology architectures, that enable large-scale population surveillance we really enable much vaster types of control over our personal lives. >> bill would allow the federal communications commission how long law enforcement agencies can hold onto cell phone data. one we'll be watching. jon: please do. laura ending gell. jenna: a surprise mention last night, big bird on the
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big stage in denver and maybe making a mark in presidential debate history. we tell you why just ahead.
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jenna: abg at this sad face behind us. governor romney described in the debate last night the nonessential spending he'd slash from the federal budget. he said he'd cut any program that isn't important enough to have to borrow money from china to fay for it and that included this big bird. >> i'm sorry, jim i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs, i love pbs, i love big bird, i actually like you too. jenna: that remark lighting up twitter. the word big bird generated 17,000 tweets every minute. one tweeter said i worked with big bird, i served with big bird, you sir are no big bird. the other said big bird y

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